New Ichkabal Archaeological Zone in Bacalar to Open in August

An aerial view of part of Ichkabal Archaeological Zone.

Quintana Roo is preparing to open a new archaeological zone, expected to be connected to the Bacalar Maya Train station following the conservation and research of the site in August, 2024.

Ichkabal Archaeological Zone, according to the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), is currently being researched by around seventy archaeologists, with help from Sedena, which is the Secretariat of National Defense.

When it opens to the public, it will connect to the Bacalar Maya Train station and offer a ticket booth and other public areas, such as a library and rest area. An access road is also being constructed to connect to the site. The Maya Train recently opened its final stretch at the end of February.

Ichkabal was a settlement inhabited from the Middle Preclassic period (around 400 B.C.) to the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1500). Its rehabilitation is part of Promeza, Mexico’s Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones. Recent research has discovered dozens of structures.

“Until eight months ago, a maximum of four pre-Hispanic buildings were known, but now we will soon be able to appreciate dozens of structures that, without a doubt, will make Ichkabal one of the greatest cultural destinations in Quintana Roo and the Mayan world,” said Diego Prieto Hernández, INAH’s General Director.

In addition to the newly discovered structures, archaeologists have also found 699 human burials, over 60,000 movable artifacts and over one million potsherds at Ichkabal, some of which will be exhibited in eight new museum sites, as well as the Maya Train stations.